Want to better understand how people around you feel? Micro expressions are absolutely essential in understanding the emotional world we live in. Research shows that emotional intelligence impacts on how successful people are in their careers, and being able to read emotional signals is a very important part of this emotional intelligence. It allows you to better communicate with others, improve negotiations, improve relationships, increase sales performance, build rapport - as well as increase the chances of identifying deceptive behaviour - or lying. For accurate deception detection one needs to study the face as well as a person's whole demeanour: gesture, voice, posture, gaze, and lastly - the words themselves.

Micro expressions are signs of concealed emotions that leak out when people are in high stake situations but are trying to control their feelings, and normally last less than 1/2 a second.

Scientists have documented seven universal facial expressions of emotion that are expressed by everyone, regardless of race, culture, age or gender. Research also shows that people can be trained to identify these expressions fairly quickly.

There are 3 types of facial expressions of emotions known as Macroexpressions, Microexpressions and Subtle Expressions. Unlike regular facial expressions, it is difficult to fake. Micro expressions express the seven universal emotions: disgust, anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise, and contempt.

Macroexpressions typically last from 1/2 second to 4 seconds: we see them in our daily interactions with people all of the time.

Microexpressions last less than 1/2 second: they occur when people are consciously or unconsciously trying to conceal or repress what they are feeling. Most people report that they don't see microexpressions, however research has shown that people can be taught to spot these relatively easily.

Subtle expressions are associated with the intensity of the emotion, not the time the emotion moves on and off the face. Subtle expressions occur when a person is just starting to feel an emotion, or when their emotional response to a situation, another person or the environment around them is of low intensity. Recently published research showed a high correlation between recognizing subtle expressions and being able to detect deceit.